Mikhail Grabovski remains the top dog on the Leafs, as he still leads all regulars in scoring chance differential at even strength. He has also excelled on the PK, too, since earning more icetime there. His usual wingers, Kulemin and MacArthur, have had their numbers at EV remain steady as well since the last update 23 games ago.

Read on to view the Toronto Maple Leafs' scoring chances by individual players through March 17, 2011. Scoring chances have been recorded by myself for all but three Leafs' games, two were recorded by Derek Zona and George Ays (one each), and one has gone unrecorded (game #18 vs. New Jersey).

"A scoring chance is defined as a clear play directed toward the opposing net from a dangerous scoring area - loosely defined as the top of the circle in and inside the faceoff dots (nicknamed the Home Plate), though sometimes slightly more generous than that depending on the amount of immediately-preceding puck movement or screens in front of the net. Blocked shots are generally not included but missed shots are. A player is awarded a scoring chance anytime he is on the ice and someone from either team has a chance to score. He is awarded a 'chance for' if someone on his team has a chance to score and a 'chance against' if the opposing team has a chance to score."

In my work on the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring chances are being tracked for the Calgary Flames (by Kent Wilson over at FlamesNation), Edmonton Oilers (Dennis), Florida Panthers (Derek Zona), Montreal Canadiens (Olivier), NY Rangers (George Ays), and Washington Capitals (Neil Greenberg). Scott Reynolds of the Copper & Blue has also been tracking scoring chances for the Los Angeles Kings since they acquired Dustin Penner from the Oilers.

Now, a look at the Leafs and some quick comments.

EVEN STRENGTH:

Forward

ES Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

M. MUELLER

30.05

9

6

17.97

11.98

5.99

M. GRABOVSKI

1065.15

362

262

20.39

14.76

5.63

N. KULEMIN

979.63

310

246

18.99

15.07

3.92

C. MACARTHUR

1012.32

316

251

18.73

14.88

3.85

M. ZIGOMANIS

39.10

10

8

15.35

12.28

3.07

K. VERSTEEG*

758.45

212

210

16.77

16.61

0.16

P. KESSEL

1117.62

345

352

18.52

18.90

-0.38

C. ARMSTRONG

682.98

177

194

15.55

17.04

-1.49

T. BOZAK

1026.00

288

324

16.84

18.95

-2.11

L. CAPUTI

77.78

19

22

14.66

16.97

-2.31

J. CRABB

432.25

112

129

15.55

17.91

-2.36

J. MITCHELL*

254.65

56

67

13.19

15.79

-2.59

N. KADRI

242.52

59

72

14.60

17.81

-3.22

D. BOYCE

408.92

79

115

11.59

16.87

-5.28

T. BRENT

619.73

108

166

10.46

16.07

-5.62

J. LUPUL

253.75

68

92

16.08

21.75

-5.67

C. HANSON

40.77

3

7

4.42

10.30

-5.89

F. SJOSTROM

566.63

92

151

9.74

15.99

-6.25

M. BROWN

333.12

47

89

8.47

16.03

-7.56

J. ROSEHILL

96.23

15

33

9.35

20.57

-11.22

C. ORR

224.12

23

65

6.16

17.40

-11.24

Defense

ES Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

K. HOLZER

36.33

9

5

14.86

8.26

6.61

T. KABERLE*

1017.13

305

270

17.99

15.93

2.06

L. SCHENN

1326.23

389

373

17.60

16.87

0.72

F. BEAUCHEMIN*

1015.60

257

263

15.18

15.54

-0.35

D. PHANEUF

1072.35

273

296

15.27

16.56

-1.29

C. GUNNARSSON

761.87

189

217

14.88

17.09

-2.21

B. LEBDA

438.25

108

131

14.79

17.93

-3.15

M. KOMISAREK

792.28

174

234

13.18

17.72

-4.54

M. LASHOFF

25.30

3

5

7.11

11.86

-4.74

K. AULIE

475.28

111

161

14.01

20.32

-6.31

Goalie

ES Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

J. GIGUERE

1330.35

339

332

15.29

14.97

0.32

J. REIMER

1189.15

313

332

15.79

16.75

-0.96

J. GUSTAVSSON

911.35

234

305

15.41

20.08

-4.67

ALL GOALIES

3430.85

886

969

15.49

16.95

-1.46

So, like I said up top, Grabovski and co. continue to carry this team. Phil Kessel, on the other hand, has seen his line give up a high amount of scoring chances, and this has only been exacerbated by the arrival of Joffrey Lupul. Keith Aulie's numbers suffer a lot from his performances during his first call-up to the Leafs. Since the Beauchemin trade, when he was brought in to fill the void on D, he's been on the ice for 84 Leafs chances for and 102 chances against. Still a bit shaky but he's very young and has had moments where he's shown that he could develope into a valuable defender down the road. Supposed shutdown defenceman Mike Komisarek has given up just 0.21 chances less than Brett Lebda per 60 minutes of even strength icetime.

Since Tomas Kaberle was shipped out to Boston, his old partner Luke Schenn is 71-79 at EV. With Kaberle, he was in the black with 245 chances for and 219 chances against. On the year, Schenn is 144-154 without old #15 on his left side.

I apologize for the error made in the last update; Armstrong was listed as playing far more EV minutes than he had at that time. I don't know what wrong there, to be honest, or why I didn't even realize it at the time.

POWER-PLAY:

Forward

PP Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

F. SJOSTROM

4.55

3

0

39.56

0

39.56

K. VERSTEEG*

183.98

105

27

34.24

8.81

25.44

N. KADRI

50.18

27

11

32.28

13.15

19.13

J. LUPUL

69.40

37

3

31.99

2.59

29.39

T. BRENT

56.35

30

6

31.94

6.39

25.55

N. KULEMIN

189.63

100

19

31.64

6.01

25.63

M. GRABOVSKI

223.18

117

21

31.45

5.65

25.11

C. MACARTHUR

210.28

107

19

30.53

5.42

25.11

C. ORR

1.97

1

0

30.51

0

30.51

P. KESSEL

260.18

132

24

30.44

5.53

24.91

L. CAPUTI

10.35

5

3

28.99

17.39

11.59

T. BOZAK

210.00

96

19

27.43

5.43

22.00

C. ARMSTRONG

30.50

12

3

23.61

5.90

17.70

M. BROWN

5.18

2

0

23.15

0

23.15

J. CRABB

37.57

12

0

19.17

0

19.17

J. MITCHELL*

8.72

1

2

6.88

13.77

-6.88

D. BOYCE

13.03

1

1

4.60

4.60

0

C. HANSON

0.63

0

0

0

0

0

M. MUELLER

0.32

0

0

0

0

0

M. ZIGOMANIS

0.52

0

0

0

0

0

Defense

PP Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

T. KABERLE*

240.18

133

23

33.22

5.75

27.48

D. PHANEUF

213.40

103

15

28.96

4.22

24.74

K. AULIE

4.30

2

1

27.91

13.95

13.95

B. LEBDA

75.72

31

11

24.57

8.72

15.85

C. GUNNARSSON

54.32

21

3

23.20

3.31

19.88

L. SCHENN

65.32

24

6

22.05

5.51

16.53

F. BEAUCHEMIN*

95.03

32

8

20.20

5.05

15.15

M. LASHOFF

4.53

1

0

13.24

0

13.24

K. HOLZER

1.78

0

0

0

0

0

M. KOMISAREK

2.07

0

0

0

0

0

Goalie

PP Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

J. REIMER

162.45

81

14

29.92

5.17

24.75

J. GUSTAVSSON

120.45

58

16

28.89

7.97

20.92

J. GIGUERE

174.93

77

15

26.41

5.14

21.27

ALL GOALIES

457.83

216

45

28.31

5.90

22.41

Kaberle leads all pointmen in chances for on the PP by a sizeable margin. Even with Phaneuf producing lately, the Leafs still miss their longtime PP quarterback. Lupul has added to the Leafs attack on the man advantage, with a little less chances for than the guy he was traded for, but he's also bled much less shorthanded chances against than Versteeg.

PENALTY-KILL:

Forward

PK Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

C. HANSON

2.93

0

0

0

0

0

C. ORR

0.38

0

0

0

0

0

J. LUPUL

0.10

0

0

0

0

0

N. KADRI

0.53

0

0

0

0

0

D. BOYCE

14.67

0

5

0

20.45

-20.45

M. GRABOVSKI

65.23

10

25

9.20

22.99

-13.80

J. CRABB

20.43

3

9

8.81

26.43

-17.62

N. KULEMIN

63.20

11

30

10.44

28.48

-18.04

M. ZIGOMANIS

16.18

0

8

0

29.66

-29.66

M. BROWN

56.52

2

30

2.12

31.85

-29.73

P. KESSEL

8.63

3

5

20.85

34.75

-13.90

F. SJOSTROM

101.83

4

62

2.36

36.53

-34.17

T. BOZAK

130.68

9

88

6.32

36.97

-30.64

C. ARMSTRONG

92.30

8

62

5.20

40.30

-35.10

T. BRENT

130.68

9

88

4.13

40.40

-36.27

K. VERSTEEG*

33.63

1

24

1.78

42.81

-41.03

J. MITCHELL*

17.05

1

14

3.52

49.27

-45.75

C. MACARTHUR

1.13

0

1

0

52.94

-52.94

Defense

PK Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

K. HOLZER

1.18

0

0

0

0

0

M. LASHOFF

0.22

0

0

0

0

0

B. LEBDA

3.22

0

1

0

18.65

-18.65

T. KABERLE*

13.10

2

7

9.16

32.06

-22.90

D. PHANEUF

100.98

11

55

6.54

32.68

-26.14

C. GUNNARSSON

144.13

9

81

3.75

33.72

-29.97

F. BEAUCHEMIN*

142.18

13

82

5.49

34.60

-29.12

M. KOMISAREK

97.55

9

60

5.54

36.90

-31.37

L. SCHENN

196.93

15

122

4.57

37.17

-32.60

K. AULIE

57.93

7

44

7.25

45.57

-38.32

Goalie

PK Min

CF

CA

CF/60

CA/60

DIF/60

J. GIGUERE

157.82

24

77

9.12

29.27

-20.15

J. REIMER

132.83

7

81

3.16

36.59

-33.43

J. GUSTAVSSON

87.42

2

67

1.37

45.99

-44.61

ALL GOALIES

378.07

33

225

5.24

35.71

-30.47

I've been loving the work by Grabovski and Kulemin on the PK. Mike Brown, after coming off the injured list (upper body injury), didn't see a single second the PK for 11 consecutive games and has only been given minutes there again in the last two. Armstrong and Bozak have tailed off a bit.

Slava Duris started writing at his blog "Under the Helmet of Slava Duris" in May of 2009. He is currently engaged in a project to count scoring chances for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. Slava chose his moniker in tribute to Vitezslav "Slava" Duris, a defenceman who defected from Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs and was known for wearing one of the goofiest looking helmets in Leafs history.